PT Humpuss, which is owned by former president Soeharto's youngest son ' Hutomo 'Tommy' Mandala Putra ' has lost a third of its controlling stake in publicly listed shipping firm Humpuss Intermoda Transportation to repay US$140.9 million in debts.

Humpuss director Theo Lekatompessy said the company had finally decided to go through a debt-to-equity swap mechanism to repay its debts to Athens Fund SA.

Humpuss' shares in Humpuss Intermoda have been diluted to 47.6 percent, compared to 67.78 percent previously ' which means the stake has been reduced by 20.18 percentage points.

Shareholders of Humpuss had initially agreed to repay 95 percent of the debt, with assets belonging to its subsidiary, Singapore-based and bankrupted Humpuss Sea Transport Pte. Ltd. (HST), while the remaining 5 percent would be paid with Humpuss' shares.

'Soon after the RUPS [shareholders meeting], however, our creditor asked the debt to be paid wholly through a debt equity swap instead of an asset swap,' Theo explained.

The company carried out the debt-to-equity transaction in July, with pricing at Rp 700 a piece, according to an announcement published in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

The transaction was to pay up to 95 percent of debts, while the remaining 5 percent had been paid earlier.

The company faced tough times when HST failed to pay for ships it leased in 2007-2008, leading to one of its creditors filing a legal appeal at the Singapore High Court. The creditor handed its authority to Athens.

Humpuss has prepared $315 million for its capital expenditure (capex) next year, with 80 percent of the funds being sourced bank loans. The remainder, Theo said, would be from the company's internal cash and joint venture with other companies.

Theo explained that around $205 million of capex allocated for next year would be to finance the company's investment in the liquid natural gas (LNG) shipping industry and about $65 million will be to finance investment in the offshore industry.

The remaining $30 million and $15 million, according to him, will be allotted to support its oil product tanker and cement shipments, respectively.

Humpuss initially planned to disburse a $650 million investment this year but only $20 million has been disbursed to date, mostly to finance its oil tanker business.

Initially, about 52.3 percent from the figure will be for LNG shipping projects, 39.23 percent for offshore projects, 5.4 percent for oil-shipping projects and the remaining 3 percent for a new cement-transportation business.

The company made a 3.97 percent year-on-year increase in revenue to $53.94 million in the first nine months of the year, while its net profit slumped by 40 percent to $1.72 million.